


Of Red And Gold

by theredstringthatbindsus



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Pendragon Returns (Merlin), Canon Compliant, Gen, Hope, Hopeful Ending, Lake Avalon, POV Arthur, Post-Battle of Camlann, Reunion, arthur's awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22868242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredstringthatbindsus/pseuds/theredstringthatbindsus
Summary: His lips shivered, forming a bubble, with a hoarse voice he finally could say it. This truth had a name :"Merlin..."His eyes opened suddenly, and even in this wet obscurity, he could see it very clear now.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 123





	Of Red And Gold

Arthur waited for a long time. For lifetimes. He didn’t know exactly how much. There weren’t hours where he was, and there wasn’t any sense to things either. The reality was only flowing upon him like water.

  
It was rolling on his lips, wrapping around his chest, sliding on his arm, gripping it and then sneaking around his fingers like a snake.  
During all this eternity that he had no knowledge of, water never left him, sweet as a mother but cold like death.

Its frozen bite knew no end.

In the fog of his thoughts, he knew one thing for sure: it was keeping him alive as much as it was forcing him asleep.

  
A blue sleep.

Under his closed eyelids, around him, the water and the nothingness, everything was only a dark blue.  
Sometimes he felt his thoughts piercing through the fog, trying to extricate from a prison of torpor, trying to tell him to remember. Trying to make him understand that he may be alone in the water, but someone on the surface was also waiting in an endless night.

  
_Waiting..._

And so Arthur went back to sleep, and his thoughts disappeared again under the thick dizziness.

  
As time flew, the fog withdrew every time a bit more.  
It has become so solid, remaining his guardian during a timeless sleep, that it began to crumble like an ancient rock.

  
The biggest break cracked during a bright day.  
Under his closed eyelids, everything became red as the burning light touched him from afar. A soft red, more like a sunset.

  
 _Not quite the good red..._ He thought.

  
And as it disrupted him, he frowned. For the first time since eternity, his stone body woke up.  
He hung on to the thought that was trying to escape from him.

_Red, red..._

  
What was it with this color? He remembered something striking, a scarlet and glorious color under a bright sun like the one he imagined was shining far atop of him, above the water, like a golden fireball.  
Gold also disrupted him, for some reason he couldn't understand either.

  
Gold rolling upon a scarlet wave, and ruby shadows dancing on horseback.

  
_Red, gold..._

  
The gold rolling upon the scarlet wave was a tiny dragon that kept his head obediently down, tongue stuck out and wings wide open, a tiny figure stitched upon the fabric.  
It was a cloak, and as the word formed in his mind the image became clearer under his tired eyes.

Dozens of cloaks were now floating in the wind, flanked upon gleaming chainmails, worn by men galloping fast toward a big white caste catching a white light in the distance.

It was Camelot.

The name shattered something in his chest and images came flowing like a wild torrent.  
There was too much at the same time for Arthur to find a link between them but somehow he knew what he was looking at.  
The thick fog wall in his mind was crumbling under the furious roar of his spirit wakening hard after being shut down for so long.

  
He saw swords catching the reflection of thunder in the heart of a battle, green fields, a white horse facing him with its corn pointing at him, banquets and smiles lit by candlelight, thrones, tears, and laughter... A special one made the rushing stop for a moment. It was a woman's laugh, soft and sweet. She was a brunette, with big chocolate eyes staring at him, framed by a cascade of curls falling on her well-dressed shoulders. Arthur did his best to ignore the urge of his brain to show him, to make him remember her, so he focused on her dress. It was a rich fabric, lavender color, with golden threads on the collar.

  
Again the sight of the shining threads startled him, there was something he couldn't put his finger on. The shade of gold his mind was desperately looking for wasn't the same as the one on the cloaks or on the woman's collar, nor the blinding and harsh yellow of the sun. The brunette's eyes were gripping at him now, slowly saddening because Arthur couldn't stay here, he had to keep searching. He felt so sorry for her. Then she surprised him by offering a soft smile and her eyes weren't sad anymore, and it made him want to say thank you. She always had been so understanding, his Gwen. Gwen. He knew her name. 

Confused, Arthur shook his head and it felt so strange, to feel his body move, his muscles stretching and his bones unlocking after centuries -because it has been centuries, hadn't it ?- spent frozen like trapped in stone, and yet without feeling any pain for it.  
He was so happy he remembered the woman's name, but that wasn't quite the name he was looking for, even though he seemed to hold it dear in his heart.

  
He thought again about the lavender purple cloth, how rich and soft it looked and how wrong that felt to him. The feeling of rough tissue under his palms tingled at his skin. 

  
The feeling made his heart beat.

  
Although it had beat during all this time underwater, it had been a slow and muffled sound, like a buried drum. It had nothing to do with the clear and frank pounding he could hear now.

  
Out of the blue, Arthur felt the cold snake flee away like if he had strike it with a sword, replaced by a warm stream filling his veins and the empty spaces where the snake had settled in his chest. The stream ran along his body, speeding down his arms to his fingertips that fluttered carefully.

  
_I'm almost there._

  
Arthur clung with all his strength and everything that he had to the memory of the rough red cloth and forced open the barriers that hindered him.

  
Finally he saw it, a sparkling golden rain blasting on a deep -and not dark at all- blue.

It was a pair of eyes, and he tried to enlarge the image because he knew, he felt deep in his heart, that this was more important than anything else he saw until now. It would give sense to the lake, to the bite, to the waiting, to the cloaks.

It was so close to him. He realized it always was, only feeling a world apart because of the darkness that has enclosed him between its claws for so long, keeping it out of sight while he waited. A truth guarded like a treasure and given back to him. He mentally took it in his hands, careful as when holding a rare bird even though it didn't feel fragile at all. It felt, on the contrary, very strong.

  
His lips shivered, forming a bubble, with a hoarse voice he finally could say it. This truth had a name :

  
"Merlin..."

  
His eyes opened suddenly, and even in this wet obscurity, he could see it crystal clear now.

  
Merlin's old neckerchief that he wore proudly at his king's side, as proudly as Arthur wore his knight's cloak. The gold sparkling in his iris shone with the same glow as the regal crown and the sewn dragon crest on his shoulder, pressed to his friend's. Same glow as his mother's ring, and the circlet he wore as a prince.

Same glow as a gold coin.

Arthur understood. Not only the lake and the waiting but also everything that preceded it, and everything that was still to be done, his future stretching out before him like a straight road. He couldn't see the end of it, the path fading on the horizon.

He was sure it was the reason he was waking up. Merlin.

It was the other side of the coin making him, finally, whole and alive.

Arthur swam to the surface and rose upon the shores of the Lake Avalon.

Blue eyes sparkling with gold lighten tears, crushing on a bright and wide smile were watching him. He saw it but not in his head. It was real, _at last._

_He was waiting for me._

"Arthur !"

**Author's Note:**

> I always thought that just as Arthur's last memory was Merlin, he would be his very first one when he wakes up.
> 
> \- 
> 
> Any wandering errors are my doing since I don't have a beta reader, and since I am also very french ahah. English isn't my native language, I'm learning it but there might me mistakes in this story so please let me know if you find one :))


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